The concepts of what a toy is and what play as a phenomenon represents evolve. This talk examines how play is affected by media technologies, digital toys, and toy robotics. This development requires an understanding of current playthings as a combination of thingness, transmedia, and technology. The talk offers pluralistic perspectives on toys in an era heading towards a post-digital state, illustrating the connections between Internet-connected character toys, and companion robotics, which in speculative toy fiction emerge as future ‘toy friends’.
Doctor of Arts (visual culture), Master of Arts (art history), M.Sc. (economics) Katriina Heljakka (b. 1975) is a researcher of toys, play, and playful learning at the University of Turku. She received her doctorate of arts at the Aalto University in 2013 and has since worked in the Academy of Finland-funded projects Ludification and the Emergence of Playful Culture, Hybrid Social Play (together with Business Finland), and most recently, the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies. In 2021-2022, she acted as the Play Expert of the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare. Her current research interests include speculative toy fiction, play machines, and playful learning in work and higher education.